There are about 4.6 million people in Louisiana. Guess how many abortion clinics there are? Three. There are just three. Which I suppose is actually quite a lot when you consider that a number of American states have only one.

On Thursday Louisiana narrowly avoided becoming a new member of the one-clinic club. The US supreme court voted 5-4 to block a Louisiana law that would have dramatically reduced access to legal abortions in the state. Opponents of the law said it would have meant only one doctor would have been eligible to perform abortions in the entire state.

The acrimonious debate over abortion that’s divided the country for generations is being reignited for the 2020 election with the Supreme Court’s tilt to the right and Democratic-led states moving to lift some restrictions on the procedure.

New York has eased some restrictions on late-term abortions, and lawmakers in Virginia have proposed to do so. That has given anti-abortion advocates fresh arguments and targets. Both sides in the debate, at the same time, expect the Supreme Court with two conservative justices appointed by President Donald Trump to narrow abortion rights.

How Abortion Rights Will Die a Death by 1,000 Cuts
Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court would mean the demise of not just abortion rights but also a century of progressive reforms.

By Serena Mayeri
Aug. 30, 2018

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s voluminous record, his opinion of the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade, and his views on legal precedent have deservedly been scrutinized in the lead-up to his confirmation hearings next week. But the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, more than Roe, holds the key to understanding the stakes of Judge Kavanaugh’s potential confirmation.

It is Casey that now protects women’s access to reproductive health care in states whose restrictions on health care providers and patients threaten to close clinics or ban abortions outright. And the political lesson conservatives learned from Casey all but guarantees that a vote for Judge Kavanaugh is a vote not only to endanger abortion rights but to turn back the clock on a century of progressive reforms.

When It Comes to Abortion Rights, Civil Disobedience Could Be the Only Option
Non-violent protest should be on the table ahead of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing.

Erin Matson
Aug 16, 2018

In this op-ed, Erin Matson, co-founder and co-director of Reproaction, explains why civil disobedience should be on the table when it comes to preserving abortion rights.

For abortion opponents, Brett Kavanaugh is — to borrow the parlance of baseball — somewhat of a closing pitcher. While there have been other justices who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal constitutional right to abortion, Kavanaugh’s decisions on reproductive rights have anti-abortion groups strongly supporting his nomination. For that reason, many have noted that he could be the one to shut it all down. Nominated to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a swing vote in favor of protecting abortion, Kavanaugh would turn the court into an enduring five-vote majority — an all-male majority — opposed to abortion rights. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that made outright abortion bans unconstitutional, the threat to maintaining that decision in the United States has never been this pronounced. Congress can’t be counted on to save us, as we’ve seen legislators fail us before, letting laws critical to our health lapse. As the nomination hearings begin, we need to keep that in mind. That’s why strategic, non-violent civil disobedience needs to be on the table.

A leader in the fight to protect Roe v. Wade lays out the plan to stop Brett Kavanaugh
NARAL president Ilyse Hogue explains the strategy for protecting abortion rights in the Supreme Court and in the states.

By Emily Stewart
Jul 29, 2018

Even before Supreme Court Justice’s Anthony Kennedy’s retirement and President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace him, abortion rights advocates were already concerned about the erosion of those rights in America. The prospect of Kavanaugh on the bench — and his and the president’s past positioning on abortion — have raised the alarm over reproductive rights in the United States and the future of Roe v. Wade to a new level.

One of Lealah Pollock’s patients faced a dilemma. The woman had become pregnant while using an IUD, and already had a very young daughter with Down syndrome. Because she was Catholic, she struggled with the idea of having an abortion.

Dr. Pollock discussed the options with her patient at her clinic in the San Francisco Bay area. In the end, the woman opted for an abortion. At this moment, Dr. Pollock is allowed to discuss reproductive options including abortion with her patients. Soon, under proposed regulations brought forward by the Trump administration, she would not be.